At the First Sign of Spring
by Fottierre
Summary: In the aftermath of an ambush, Sarada didn't expect her father will finally came home. Non-ninja AU.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

 _2_ _nd_ _month of winter, Eastern District of Konoha,_

 _BOOM!_

"Sarada, run!"

"Not without you, Mama!"

"For this once just listen to me, you stubborn daughter, or both of us will die!"

 _BOOM!_

"Then run with me! Why would you rather stay?"

"I still have some things that I must do, I will come to you later."

"Then I'll stay with you until you're done!"

 _BOOM!_

"Listen to me, Sarada. I'm the only one who can stop this mess, and this place is no longer safe. If both of us run, the village will be totally ruined and most probably, no one could survive. Now, for my one and only daughter, please... run and find the nearest shelter. I promise I will be back."

"...you promise me?"

"Of course, my dear."

"...okay."

* * *

And she never did. The village is under attack by unknown enemies for some unknown reason, and it's an ambush. The attack is already last for about two hours, women and children are quickly sheltered... except my Mom. She chose to stay to stop the attack.

My Mom, Sakura Uchiha, is the strongest woman in the village, yet the most skilled doctor. She is most praised and treasured by the villagers.

And Dad is... the most respected man in the village. Mom always told me about him. He's very brave, and very wise.

But I guess not really brave and not really wise to not come back to the village to help this mess we're having. And I never know what he's like; never met him once.

Or so I thought.

* * *

After it seems the attack stopped, I rush to the last place I got separated with Mom, which is near our house despite the heavy snowing. The village is nearly half destroyed. There are still some fires and smokes, some houses are completely destroyed, some are still intact with little damage because the location isn't near where the ambush came from. I'm still running through the road, and when I get there, no one's there.

"Mama?"

I called her once. No respond. I tried to call her again a little louder and walk around, searching her presence.

"Mama?"

I saw several men lied down, some of them are still panting raggedly and injured. _Maybe at the hospital...?_

I run directly toward the hospital, hoping to see a woman with pink hair. I entered the place, it got damaged but not too severe, and it's quite dusty from debris. I run through in, searching for Mom.

"Mama!"

I ignore the bustling nurses and doctors trying to help injured villagers, and I keep running through the hospital. But it's a useless effort. Surely, it's easy to pinpoint my Mom because of her unique hair color. But I see no sign of Mom anywhere here. I exit the hospital, still trying to search her.

"Mama...?"

I turn my head right and left, opening my eyes widely and concentrate if I could just spot that pink hair of my Mom. I search her everywhere, from corner to corner, but to no avail. And it seems I've been searching her for hours that the sky's beginning to turn to dusk.

I become desperate. _Where is she...?_

"Mama..." I'm beginning to sob and tears flowed through my cheek. My legs are throbbing from running too long. I wrap my body with my arms to warm myself up. I walk tiredly around, nowhere to go. I weep silently, letting my feet dragging me along the road... as I'm thinking about how I will live all by myself without mother.

 _Am I... really alone now?_

And just when I thought about it, a man with a dark cloak appears in front of my eyes, and I gasp from shock and stumble backward, jerking my head to his face. And I gape at him. His eyes are coal black, contrast to the white snow, and his hair is also dark, somehow straight down and shoulder-length. I couldn't really picture his expression because of the snowfall. Other than that, he stands in front of me with his body straight up and staring at me warily.

I suddenly remember in the back of my head about him. I think met him once before. Don't tell me he's the-

"Your mother can't be with you anymore."

 _-he's the... wait... what?_

For a moment, I stare at him blankly. _Did he just said...?_

As I register his words, my tears overflown and I turned my face down slowly. This man I barely know who just said that Mom isn't around anymore, and I just believe for what he said.

For the first time of my life, my Mom lied to me. She promised to come back... but she didn't. And it's the first time she break her promise. And this time, she's no around to make it up.

And suddenly, I become so exhausted. My body is freezing. Right now, I just want to go home and cry all day and night. Too much happened for today, and I couldn't take it anymore.

I sob silently in front of him, with my head bowed down deeply that my chin touched my own chest. My shoulders are hunched and shuddering both from sniffling and cold. The frozen weather biting my skin despite my thick red jacket. And I feel him staring down at me from his height. Slowly, I lift my head to stare back at him, revealing my glazed face. I look at him at his eyes, inaudibly asking.

 _What am I going to do now?_

I think I see his expression shifts for a moment. Then, he takes steady steps toward me until there's only a step distance from me to him.

"Come... my daughter."

He stretches his right hand, opening his cloak carefully for me to follow him. I stare at him, still blankly, disbelieve at first for what I just heard.

 _He's... my father?_

But I choose to stay silent, too tired to think and too much shocked to dwell on asking any question to him. Eventually, I mindlessly walk toward him, following him, and he guides me home. He covers me gently with his cloak, drawing me closer to him.

He's so warm. So warm, that I almost instantly calmed down and no longer feel the freezing, cold winter.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello!_

 _This is my very first fanfic I publish in here. This fic is inspired by a certain Disney movie... can you guess what it is? I suppose it's a really big hint by just the scene and title haha XD_

 _I made a screencap for this chapter, and it can be viewed in my artblog. Just go to my bio and the link is there :3_

 _First chapter will be published tomorrow, just for this once! I'll try update this once a week, but please understand if I forgot or I don't update this weekly, 'cuz I'm currently busy with work ;;;;_

 _Thanks for reading! xxx_


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

The man in a black cloak walks with me slowly, with his cloak still surrounds me, guiding me to my house. The icy winds blow through the air. The house got damaged from the attack from the outside, but not too severe that it still can be used to stay.

The surroundings are starting to calmed down, people are trying to help one another and cleaned up the debris caused by the attack. Some people halt to stop to see the tall man beside me, bow to him in greeting. He simply nods back to acknowledge them and keep on walking toward my house.

 _...or our house?_

When we arrive in front of the door, he opens and stands at the side of it. Then he turns his face to look at me, prompting me to go inside. I silently obey and walk inside. Before I enter my room, I turn my head slightly over my shoulder, glancing at him. He stares back at me, and blinked.

 _Who are you? Why are you taking me home? Where do you come from? Why do know where my house is? Am I really your daughter? Where's Mom exactly?_

I open my mouth to say something, to ask a question that lingers in my mind... but immediately close it again, not really wanted to discuss anything with him. Instead, I whisper a quiet "good night", close to door, hit the bed, and start weeping all of my loss until I drift to sleep.

 _Mama..._

* * *

"...Kakashi?"

"Hey. I just saw you came and walked with Sarada through here. And... I just feel the need to come to visit. We couldn't... find her anywhere... yet. We already searched through around the village for all day. I'm sorry. I should have been there for her."

"...how about Naruto?"

"He and his family are all safe. Naruto got damaged quite badly from the attack, but he was fine. And also desperate for Sakura. He got a little late for her. And he went all blaming himself for not being able to protect your wife. You have to meet him later."

"I know."

"...what are you going to do with her?"

"...can Naruto take care of her?"

"Well, I suppose he could, since she's your daughter. But why not you?"

"...I ...am not sure. I've been away for so long... and if she's with me, she will..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine with you. Why don't you try yourself first? After all, who could take care of her better than her own father, the hero of the village himself?"

"..."

"Well, we're all here for you. You can call us for whatever you need. And for Sarada too, of course. Good night, Sasuke."

"...Thanks."

* * *

I stir on my bed, not yet ready to wake up for the day. I've been crying all night, and I still feel tired. But my stomach grumbles in protest, since yesterday I haven't eaten anything.

I groan and try to open my eyes. The sunlight is so bright from the window, and I squint. Until my eyes are finally fully opened adjusting to the light, I get up from the bed, setting my eye glasses. I walk through the door and exit my room.

In the living room, the man from yesterday is sitting on the sofa, reading a newspaper. And holds it with his only right hand. And I just realized that he actually missing an arm.

 _Did he just stay here last night?_

Nervously, I greeted him, "um... good morning..."

He turned his face to me, and nodded slowly.

Okay, that was quite awkward. I don't know this man yet... that claimed to be my father. And I'm not quite certain about that for now. Well, at least he came to took me home.

As I remember that I actually get up to eat something, I walk through the dining room to get to the fridge. When I get there, on the dining table, there is already a plate of two sunny side-up eggs and a glass of milk. And only a plate. And I'm not sure whether this is served for me or him.

"Is this... for me?" I asked to the man.

"If you don't want it, don't eat it."

I pursed my lips at that. _He doesn't have to answer that way._ But that aside, now I know that he made it for me. "Um, thanks," I mutter and I sit down on the chair and start eating my breakfast.

As I eat, he keeps quiet and keeps on reading that newspaper he's holding. It's kind of strange silence... to me. But I keep on eating my breakfast and think to myself.

Did he stay here when I sleep? Or he slept in other place and got here in the early morning? And made me breakfast? Is he really my father? If so, why did he seem to be so calm when he knows that mother is gone? Even I cried so hard for missing her. Where was he all this time, anyway?

My brain is flooded with so many questions about him. But thinking about asking him with these questions, I seem to have no nerves to do it. This man is so mysterious, I cannot quite read him. _Duh, I just met him yesterday._

But I remember that I ever met him once in my life some time years ago. I never thought that it was my father. Even now I still doubt that this man is really my father.

I don't ever get to know what my father is like, because... we don't have a photo of him. Or Mom never gave me one. She only described that he's the most handsome and prettiest man in Konoha. She always vague in describing him. I never know the reason why she never gave me a proper description or a photo of him.

Cannot keep my curiosity any longer, I attempted to ask him. "Are you... really my father?" I ask the man cautiously as I hold my glass of milk.

"...yes, Sarada."

Hmm... I'm not quite convinced by that. But he shows no sound of hesitation in answering, even though he delayed for a moment.

I sip some of my milk to calm my nervousness. Really, this man is making me so jumpy.

"Then... that day back then... um, the day you came to save me and Mama years ago... it was you?"

"Yes."

Oh. So, he really is the same man as the man back then. That day, he was suddenly came out from nowhere and saved me and my mother from the unknown enemy attack, while we traveling outside the village.

* * *

 _Three years ago,_

 _It was afternoon when we walked back home. We went out to visit to the other village called Suna for several days for some business my mother has. She talked all about medical and health with the doctors there. As the head medic of the village, she is responsible in that field and build relationship and trust with the other doctors in cooperated villages. Mom got a really big name in the medical world._

 _In the middle of the forest, she stopped abruptly as if she was sensing something wrong. She stood in silence for a moment, and I didn't know what she was thinking. When I looked at her, her brows were furrowed and her gaze was forward through the opening of the forest._

" _What's wrong, Mama?"_

" _Sarada, stay here and don't move. I'll be back in a minute."_

 _Then she quickly jogged to the opening, and then stopped for a moment, turned her head to both sides as if she's checking on something. Then she made a move again, to the right side of the forest._

 _I patiently wait for her to come. But not long after she left, I suddenly heard bristles behind me. I jerked my head to the back of me, scanning the surrounding. But I saw nothing._

 _Well, that was weird. I frowned at the thought._

 _When I turned my head forward, I heard it again. This time, it seemed coming nearer. Afraid, I took some steps forward, leading to the opening of the forest. I looked to the wide field, leading to our home, but it's still far away. I peeked from behind a tree to search my mother, but I saw no one._

 _The sound of bristles were coming nearer, and I detected the movement of them. They're approaching toward me! Desperate, I risked my life to step outside the forest and made a run. And when I did, suddenly there was an arrow pierced from inside the forest toward me. Luckily, I dodged it in time._

 _There was another arrow, and I ran through the field, avoiding them as the best I could. And I starting to scream for my mother._

" _Mama!"_

 _As like I'm a lost kitten or puppy searching desperately for her mother while being hunted down with arrows. There was a pause from the shooting, but it was only last for a moment, and it seemed to be decreasing in number. But I became more distraught and called my mother once again._

" _Mama!"_

 _Still no answer and no appearance of my mother. The arrows continued shooting toward me, but I seemed to be able to dodge them all, probably just my own luck. This was my first time, in my age of 9, we traveled outside the village, and also this was the first time we were being attacked anonymously. And yet we separated each other. I turned my head to all sides, searching for any hint of pink of that my mother's hair._

" _MAMA!"_

 _I screamed with all my might for that one that I almost cried. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a man with a black cloak jumped right in front of me. I shocked for a moment and raised my arms in a defensive pose in front of my chest, afraid if he would do something to me. But then I realized the shootings were stopped when he made an appearance. But it also didn't last long either._

 _He immediately covered me with his black cloak. Then he looked at me, through to my eyes, as if commanding something. He made a move, slow at first, and then scowled lightly to me when I only stood there._

Is he telling me to follow him?

 _As I understood his prompt, I made a move as well, taking steps following him. When he saw me obliged to his command, he started to pick up his pace. When I mimicked him, he started running faster, and I started running too, following him. He was guiding me to a safe place to the other forest with his cloak still surrounding me as if he's protecting me from the attack. And while we ran, suddenly Mom came out from the other side of the field, running in the other side of me. I saw Mom deflected some of the arrows with her punches and kicks, and continued running with us._

 _It was like I was having bodyguards here._

 _And then came that one—no, three arrows blazed with fire shot at us. I couldn't see it clearly because I was still covered with the man's black cloak. And when it was about to hit us, Mom turned her body toward the arrow, ready to deflect them with her bare hands. But the man suddenly turned down the cloak from me, taking stand in front of Mom quickly and drawn a sword that he brought on his back, blocking the arrows down with a lightning speed._

Wow. How did he do that?

 _When the arrows fell to the ground, he swung the cloak through the fire to die it down to prevent it widening through the forest. The fire turned off, and he continued to ushered both of us again to the deep of the other, safe forest._

 _It seemed already last for some minutes when we hid in the forest from the attack. When my mother came out to see the surrounding, she called to me._

" _It's okay now, Sarada. They stopped. We can go home safely," she said softly._

 _I came to her cautiously, turning my head right and left as if to see something than trees and bushes. Then I faced my mom._

" _What was that all about? Why did we got attacked? And who was the man—" when I said that, I turned my head again, searching for the previous man who saved our life. But he was nowhere near._

" _Probably just some bandits trying to get to us. But we're safe now. That man took care of it." She smiled and petted my head comfortingly._

" _Who is he, Mama? Why did he save us?" I asked her._

" _...he is, Sarada, the hero and protector of Konoha. And that's why he came to save us."_

* * *

I don't remember that my mother ever mentioned him being my father. But it was unexpected of him suddenly appeared in front of me and saved me, as if he knew me back then. Remembering he surrounded me with his cloak protectively... the thought brought warm feelings inside. Even though I didn't know the man back then, he came and guided me to safety.

"Then... you really are the famous hero of the village..."

He's silent this time. I take that as a confirmation. The thought of having a father who is the most famous person in the village... well, I should be feeling excited or something, I know. My Mom _did_ ever mentioned that Dad is the most respected man in Konoha. And from what she described his appearance... he _is_ pretty. But not really. Maybe because he's already old, but despite that, he may look younger than his actual age. I should be feel thrilled that this man is actually _my_ Dad.

But this is just... _weird._

When I drink all of my milk and finished my eggs, he stands up and takes the black cloak from the hanger near the front door and wear it around his shoulders.

Seeing this, I stands up too from my chair and asked him (still nervously), "a-are you going somewhere?"

"Hn." There's a pause for a moment. Then he turns his face to me, his expression is neutral, "you want to come along?"

At this, I smile a little (nervously. _Goddammit, why am I so anxious in front of him?_ ). "Oh, um, sure. I'll wash the dish and get prepared then," I reply and make a quick act on washing the dishes and take a quick a shower.

When I'm ready, I walk outside and saw him waiting in front of the house. I approach him and grin a little at him. Then he just starts walking to the road, no attempt to smile or grin back at me. But I follow him anyway.

Well, this might be an awkward start for me to build an awkward family relationship with my just recently known father.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello again! As promised, the next chapter is here!_

 _Just for a reminder in case that you don't read the summary, this is AU, guys. Just a normal life with normal weapons and without ninja thingies. But there's a little backstory that sticks to the canon, like Sasuke's physical appearance and his swordmanship skill, etc. However, again, this is Alternate Universe fanfic; some story is twisted a bit in here as I wish to write it. And yup, really, this fic is inspired from Disney's Bambi. The idea just came out from nowhere (I even didn't watch the movie for a long time, probably something in me triggered when I did something, but I don't really remember how lol) and I had an itch to write it, so here it is. I don't know how many chapters this fanfic will be, probably around 10 chapters... but I already wrote the entire plot in my note haha_

 _Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

How many times have I been thinking the word 'awkward'? Because this situation I'm having here, is really, really way awkward. Hello, your daughter's here, at least say something? I've been crying all night long for losing my Mom, how about you? Did you cry? Or, _can you even_? Should I search someone else to talk with me about this?

I'm just so nervous. Plus the cold. We've been walking through the village for like half an hour and we made no conversation yet. But... I guess there's no helping it, since he's been away for long, and I only met him once before this.

Or maybe... it's just the way he is.

 _But dammit, his silence making me jitter inside and I want to do anything to break this uncomfortable situation!_

I sigh quietly. My father is about two steps forward from me. Whenever I look at his face, he just know that I'm staring at him and then he glances back at me. I turn away my sight off him awkwardly. And just like that, we continue to walk.

 _OKAY, I can't just take this anymore!_

Maybe I should start first...

"Um... where are we going?" There, a simple question to start the day.

"Naruto's." His answer is immediate. _Do you have any shorter respond than that?_

"Uncle Naruto? The head of the village? You're friends with him?"

"I'm not quite sure that I call him 'friend', but if it your terms, yes, we're friends."

"Oh."

More silence. See, this is why I don't have the nerves to ask him questions, because his response is so _straight_ to the point and not saying anything to prolong the conversation, plus, sometimes it _stings_. And it makes me so _nervous_. And anxious. Even his appearance already makes me lose my cool. Because he's _way_ cooler than me, duh. Or even the coolest man in the entire Konoha. In both terms. Or any other terms.

Whatever.

Alright, starting again. "What are we going to do there?"

"Talk with him."

 _Just that?_ "About what?"

"...it's none of your business."

"Oh. Okay."

 _GEEZ._ He's beginning to frustrate me! I'm only trying to have a talk with my only father here, but it seems that _I'm_ the only one who's trying. _None of my business?_ Then why is he even bringing me along? God. I take a long breath a bit heavily to calm myself down.

"...I want to talk about what happened yesterday with him. I... only managed to come after the attack was receded."

I lift my head to see him. Well, finally he's explaining something. _Did the sigh work?_

"Do you have any idea who did this?" I asked him carefully.

"I might have some, but I'm not sure. Konoha has been peaceful for years, and hasn't made any trouble with any other village." Then he turns his face down and frowning as if he's thinking about something after saying that.

"I see..." I murmur. I want to talk about Mom, but maybe now it's not the time. I'm afraid of his response regarding mother.

It's not that I'm saying that he might doesn't care about her, it's just... I don't know what his respond will be, because I have no idea what kind of relationship my parents had.

Though my mother always told me about him, but she never mentioning him as the hero of the village. She only told me that he was a brave and wise man, and travel around the world to see how big the world was and many more other reasons why he rarely came home.

While she told me all those stories about my father, her face was bright, and I love it like that. And from it, I know how Mom loves him so much.

But for my father himself, I don't know. I just met him yesterday, and he never mentioned about Mom... yet. I suppose it'll be a sensitive topic for now.

 _Maybe some other time_.

* * *

When we arrive at Uncle Naruto's place, my father knocks the front door. It's Aunt Hinata who answers it.

"Oh my, is it you, Sasuke?" She greets the man.

 _So, his name is Sasuke?_ Come to think of it, I never knew his real name before. _So much for being his daughter._

"Is Naruto here?"

"Yes, he is. Please, come in," she ushers us to come inside, then she looks at me and smiles, "hello, Sarada."

"Hello." I wave a little at her and follow my father inside. We enter the living room, and there's Uncle Naruto sitting on the sofa, with some bandages patched nearly half of his body. His head is turned down, so I can't see what his expression is like right now.

But not long when we come to the room, he lifts his head and looks at Dad.

"Is that you, bastard?" His eyes scrutinizing at my father. I widen my eyes at his naming to the man. _Bastard?_

"Tell me about yesterday," father replies. Then he looks at me, frowning a bit, somehow confused. I stare back at him. _Why are you looking at me like that?_

"Oh, you bring Sarada?" Uncle Naruto addresses and grins at me. I smile back shyly at him and nod in greeting. "She can play with Boruto for a while."

"Your son?" My father asks with a lifted brow.

"Yeah. You haven't met him, have you?" He lifts a hand to the side of his face, "Boruto! Sarada's here!"

"Coming, Dad!" Boruto replies from the upper floor. A moment later, he comes down from the stairs. "Hey, Sarada, what's up—whoa." He looks at my father with wide eyes, as if he's excited.

Uncle Naruto stands and makes his way toward us. "Boruto, this is Sasuke, Sarada's dad," he introduces my father to his son.

"N-nice to meet you, Uncle Sasuke!" Boruto greets him with a grin. And my father regards him with a nod.

"We're having some... business, for a while. Go play with Sarada at the park or something. Take Himawari too with you." Uncle Naruto says.

"But the park got destroyed yesterday, Dad." Boruto lifts a brow at him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Then go somewhere else, take a walk or something. But not too far, okay?"

"Gotcha!" Then he turns to the stairs, "Himawari! Let's go play with Sarada!"

"Coming, big brother!" After a second, Himawari comes down from the stairs, then she launches at me to hug me, "sis Sarada!"

I catch her and hug her back, "hello, Himawari! Long time no see!" I pat her head.

"Go have fun, children. Take a good care for Himawari, will ya?" Uncle Naruto grins at us with his both hands at his hips.

"Don't have to tell me twice, Dad! Let's go!" Boruto takes Himawari's hand and walks to the outside. I turn my face to my father nervously.

 _Even with Boruto and Uncle Naruto here I'm still nervous in front of him. Goddammit._

"Um... I'll see you later?" Rather than a sentence to say a brief goodbye, it's more like a question. Because I'm not sure he'll still be here when I'm gone from him.

He nods at me. And at that, I smile at him for a while, then follow Boruto outside.

 _None of my business, huh...?_ _Oh well._

* * *

"...we haven't found Sakura... I'm sorry..."

"..."

"She stayed and managed to stop the attack in two hours. She saved Konoha. We can recover the village quickly because of her action. Huh, such of being a head of the village, who am I kidding? I couldn't even reached her before then. How useless I am."

"..."

"It was an ambush. They threw bombs from the southern border. Luckily, it was coming only from that side, although the attack was spread quite wide, the northern district was barely damaged. We sheltered women and children quickly, and we tried to stop the attack. But... I should've known that Sakura stayed and tried to stop it... all by herself. Dammit!"

"My wife had made a decision all by herself. It's not your fault."

"I'm the _head_ of the village, for God's sake, Sasuke! How can I even be the leader if I cannot even protect one best friend!?"

"So you rather that you were the one who in her position? Stop the attack and sacrifice yourself?"

"Isn't that what the head of the village supposed to do? She's not in a big role- well, I suppose she is, but she's the head of the hospital, a medic, Sasuke, not a front liner!"

"We're not in a war, Naruto, and you said it was an ambush. She had to make a decision, and she chose what she think was right, and she knew the consequences of what she chose. And she had done it. She stopped the attack and the village is safe. It wasn't you to blame."

"Then who am I to blame? _You?_ You also come late yesterday. And you seem calm about this, bastard."

"..."

"...sorry. It's just... it's devastating for me. I promised to protect your family, the villagers. I don't want to say that she's dead, but..."

"...the village is safe for now. That's all what you should be concerned of."

"I know. But this is Sakura we're talking about, Sasuke. Your wife. Sarada's mother. _Your_ _daughter's_ mother."

"..."

* * *

"Was that really your Dad, Sarada?" Boruto asks in wonder to me while we walk. We're just wandering around the village, since the park is still in a construction to be repaired. Konoha is bustling with men trying to rebuild the village.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... maybe." I answer in a kind of hesitation. _Because I'm still not really sure..._

" _Maybe?_ You don't know whether he's your father or not?" Boruto frowns.

"We just met yesterday, and he claimed that I'm his daughter. What do you expect?" Yet he never came home and I've never seen him interacting with Mom. What kind of father left his family behind for so many years anyway?

...well, not always, though. I know that my eyes and hair color resemble him, but still.

"But he's so cool! I never met anyone like him before!" He clutches his hands in excitement and grins widely.

"Well, he _is_ the hero of the village that everyone talks about." I reply with no-so-excited tone. It is cool that you get to meet someone who acknowledged by the whole villager and so famous. And so respected as a big person.

But being the daughter of him? And feel that you never knew him? _Would anyone call that weird?_

"Whoa, he is? That's so cool, Sarada! He _must_ be your father!" Boruto grins wider.

I frown. "What makes you think that?"

"Duh, he came to save you yesterday, right? Of course any father would save his own child!" He swings his hand in a gesture duh-it's-so-obvious.

"Yeah, Uncle Sasuke must be so kind, sis Sarada!" Himawari chimes in to the conversation.

"Well, you're right, though... But he _is_ a hero, isn't that his job to save anyone regardless they're his family or not?" I raise a brow at Boruto. That is one thing I know for sure about being a hero. Learned that from my Mom, who healed so many patients that mostly strangers to her.

"Oh, come on, why are you doubting him? He said that you're his daughter, right? Isn't that enough for you?" He crosses his arms in front of his chest.

"He _never_ came home, Boruto, that's why I'm doubting him." Yeah, he never came home. Even once. Or so I thought. And probably, if yesterday wasn't happening, he would have never come to me, standing in front of me and stating, " _Hey, Dad's here, came to rescue you, let's go home_ ," after all those years he left me and Mom behind.

 _Come to think of it, yesterday was so cliché._

"Really? Did your mother ever tell you about him, though?" Boruto asks.

"Well, almost _every day_ she told me about him. But she never mentioned him being _the_ hero of the village. Even when he came to save us three years ago, Mama never mentioned that he _was_ my father." I shrug.

We're talking over our walk, some people greet us when they pass us. We nod and wave at them to greet them back.

People of Konoha are (majorly) friendly. We mostly know each other, we greet whenever we meet. Also, me and Boruto (and Himawari), as the children of the biggest people in the village (and I refer to Mom, since she is the head of the hospital, she is well-known too here beside my father), we're almost being known to most villagers.

Boruto frowns again. "That's weird. Why your mother never told you about that? Is she not happy with your father being the most famous person in the village?"

I frown too with him. I get no idea about that. "I'm not sure. But Mama seemed to have no trouble with no father around." I never seen her whined over her husband rarely came home. She even reassured me whenever I asked her when father will come home. Their relationship seems... kind of strange. But not really. I know there is something between them, but I seem cannot picture what it is. Because I don't see it from my father... yet.

 _But Mom's gone already... how could I see it when Mom is no longer here?_

Boruto hums in understanding. Then he puts his arms behind his head, "well, father or not, he came to save you. And you said he came to save you too three years ago, right? Then what are you worried about? It means that you're important to him that he must come to save ya!" He smirks.

I freeze for a moment. _Me? Important to him?_ I think for a second about that. He already came to save me twice. Well, yesterday he wasn't really saving me, just came and brought me home safely. He made breakfast for me. Bring me along with him. And he nodded at me to see me again later.

"Don't worry, sis Sarada. I'm sure Uncle Sasuke will take care of you!" Himawari speaks cheerfully to me as she holds both of my hands.

 _Take care of me?_ I smile a little at the thought. Even though he was away for years, thinking that he's here just to take care of me... seems comforting, somehow. But I still have that tiny doubt lingering inside me. _This is just happening too fast for me_.

But either way, I shake my head a little to put aside that doubt and whisper, "Thanks, guys." And we continue to walk, wandering around.

 _Father or not... he came to save me._

"No problem! Hey, will you tell me how he saved you in three years ago? I bet he was so heroic!"

* * *

It's almost midafternoon when we're done with our walk and decided to go back. We bought some snacks, ate them on a bench, and walked back to Boruto's house. We talked a lot, and it was a good talk, because I need it after I lost my mother.

Although we mentioned Mom in some of our talk, Boruto never questioned about her. Probably he already knows it too from his parents. Because, well, usually Mom take care of Uncle Naruto along with Aunt Hinata whenever he got sick or injured.

And now... Mom's no longer here to treat Uncle Naruto's wounds.

When we arrive at Boruto's house, there's my father standing at the side of the door. His expression is neutral as usual. Not long after that, he turns his head and looks at me.

"Your pop's waiting for you," Boruto smirks and nudges me with his elbow. I scowl at him. And I think my face just turned a little red.

 _It's just the cold. It's freezing, you know._

"It's not a big deal, sheesh," I whisper a bit frustratingly at him.

He laughs. "Well, see ya, Sarada! Come on, Himawari!" Then he takes his sister's hand and jogs inside the house. Both of them bow to Dad for a second, and he nods them back. When Boruto and Himawari get inside, Dad comes to me.

I smile a little at him. "Um... we're going home, now?" _I lost all of my confidence in just one second when I'm with him. Goddammit!_

A pause for a second. Then a frown. "Did you have lunch yet?"

"Huh?" I get a taken aback from his question. _I didn't expect him to ask me about that._ "Um... only snacks..." I answer hesitatingly.

"Hn." He's quiet for a moment, peering at me. Then, he's starting to walk to the road that leads to home.

 _What was that all about?_

"I still have some things to do, but we're going home for a while. You should stay at the house after lunch," he speaks.

"Oh, uh... alright." I reply as I follow him from behind. Maybe when he knows that I haven't eat lunch yet, he decides to go back home with me and make me a lunch.

 _Maybe he is my father, after all. Maybe._

* * *

 _A/N: Hi! Sorry it's a bit late haha. But here's the chap2!_

 _Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

It's morning after two days we visited Uncle Naruto's house. And I'm sitting at the dining table, eating my breakfast made by my father, again.

 _I guess in my family, we're all early risers._

My father's sitting on the sofa, reading a newspaper, nothing new.

Since two days ago, we ate dinner together... in silence. In breakfast, he always ate first and made one for me. He waited until I finished, then he went off outside, having something to do. He just said that I should stay at home. And at dinner time, he came back and he cooked for both of us.

He's indeed a good cook, even better than Mom's. I mean, Mom's cooking is good too, but Dad is... more decent. Like there's more tastes in it. I wonder if he's good at this because of his traveling for years.

 _Sarada, he wasn't traveling for culinary tour._

Whatever.

And for two days ago, we weren't talking either. The silence was still... awkward. Even up 'till now. There are still so many questions I want to ask him, that's for sure. Especially about Mom. But I still cannot bring my nerves to do it. I don't know how to deal with this man. And he doesn't even try to initiate a conversation with me.

 _How even Mom can stand with him?_

I'm always trying to get to know him better. Well, you know, since he's _my_ father, and I'm _his_ daughter, and father and daughter have to get along well together. Right?

I guess I'll always be the one who start first. "Are we—" _Damn._ I clear my throat to throw away that goddamn nervousness. "What are you going to do today?"

He turns his face at me with his default expression. He's silent for a moment. I think it's his habit for thinking first before replying. Then he turns his attention back to his newspaper. "I'm going to start to observe the village today."

Oh, that sounds... cool. Even the fact that I lived in Konoha for years, I don't really know all the districts in here. Mom sometimes took me to walk around the village, but the village is vast so we didn't get the chance to explore it all the place thoroughly.

"Can I come?" I ask him with a little hint of excitement. Oh. But wait. If I come with him, I'll be forever trapped in that awkward silence all day with him. _Dammit_.

He stares at me. "Don't you go to school today?" He asks with his brow lifted a bit.

"Oh, it's currently winter holiday, so I don't really have anything to do." I shrug. Besides, I didn't go to school yesterday either. Shouldn't he noticed that by now? Although, when the day the attack happened, it was the last day of school in winter. It's Tuesday, today.

He grunts. I wait for him to properly reply. One second. Two. Three. "Make sure you wear something warm."

At that, I smile widely. "Okay! I'll make lunch for both of us then!" I take my plate and glass and scurry to the kitchen.

"No need." My father says while he stands and makes his way toward me.

"Eh?" I turn my head to him and my eyes widened in question.

"Just go prepare yourself. I'll make it." He replies and opens the fridge, taking some ingredients.

"Oh... but I can cook too, you know." Just to let him know, in case if he's afraid if I will make something 'else' than lunch. "Mama taught me."

I didn't live with Mom for nothing; I learned a lot from her. Including self-defense tricks. And I have to say that Mom's got some really cool moves. She's a medic, yet she can do martial arts. And she can cook too.

 _Is there any cooler Mom than mine?_

"Hn." He grunts again at me and he continues to prepare the foods for lunch. I wonder how he make lunch with only one hand. And yet, his cooking is a bit more advanced than Mom's.

 _Damn, my parents are so badass_.

With him continuing his ministrations, I take it that he insists that he makes the lunch.

"Okay, then I'll just... get prepared... then." I mumble. Even though I'm curious just _how_ he can cook with his single hand, I go to get a warm shower and wear a thick coat. Just like he told me.

This 'trip' with father probably will be boring because we'll get no proper conversation (yet) and only wandering around, but either way, maybe I'll get to know him, even just a little. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get to talk with him... about Mom. He didn't show any sign of discomfort when I mentioned 'Mama' though.

Or did he...?

* * *

We walk through the snowy road, directing through to the southern district, where the attack came from. Probably my father wants to check something there and finding out some clues. The village is still busy with people repairing buildings.

As usual, when people pass us, they make a respecting bow to him and wave at me. And father replies with his signature nod and I smile back at them. I guess he really is the most respected man in Konoha. I wonder what he did to this village to grant people's acknowledgement.

We haven't made any conversation since we got out from the house. Determined to make a talk, I say with a little smile, "All the people here are nice, aren't they?"

"Hn."

Yeah, what to say about that anyway? Everyone knows people of Konoha are nice. Or so I thought. It's been a peaceful place to begin with. Or should I say, when I was born to this place, it's already been peaceful. I don't really know the history of Konoha; I know the village had a war with other villages, but that was decades ago, when my parents were still on their teen ages. But the history taught by the school is quite vague, not really into details... yet.

"Do you know any of them, though?" I ask. Because I know a thing for a famous person is, when everyone knows your name, but you yourself don't know who they really are. _But even then, I didn't know his real name in the first place._

"Only some." He replies nonchalantly. I suppose his away from the village makes him unsocial... maybe. What was he doing with his travel? Probably meeting someone new is not on his list.

That makes me curious. "What were you doing while you away from here?"

"Traveling."

 _You don't say_. I roll my eyes at his answer.

"Well, yeah... Mama already told me that. I mean, while you were traveling, what have you been doing? Finding something new? Visiting other villages?" Though those are probably the _obvious_ reasons why people travel.

"Many things. I do not travel only for my own. It's... part of my job." He explains briefly. Oh, so being a hero is a job? I thought it was only a mere title.

Well, I guess that's make sense if he has to be away for years from home. But I never know that being a hero is a job that took you _years_ to be away from home. Isn't it hero a job that defeat bad guys? What else do they do?

I may want to start a topic that since yesterday I've been itching to talk about. "I see... Mama said you travel for our sake. I don't get what she meant by that, though." I shrug a little. I take a peek from the corner of my eyes to see his expression when I mentioned Mom.

His expression is still somewhat calm, but he replies nothing. Not even a grunt. Okay, what's that supposed to mean? Does he not mind about it, or...? At his silence, I continue.

"Mama always told me about you. Almost eeevery day. But she never mentioned that you _were_ the hero of Konoha. So... I was surprised that you came to me and said that I'm your daughter. Uh, it's not that I don't believe you or something, it's just..." I trailed off. My nervousness risen every time I speak a word.

I take a peek again to see if his expression changes. Nothing new.

That's a bit disappointing. I'm hoping to get some reaction from him, even just a little. I wanted to talk about Mom with him, since she's...

I sigh a bit, letting out a puff of air. I guess my father really don't mind about Mom. Well, since he was away for years when Mom was still here, and he decided to appear when she's _gone_. Suddenly, I'm beginning to get mad. About him for being like he doesn't care about his wife. Does he have any idea how Mom always talk about him with me? What kind of face she made when she talk about him? She looked so _happy_ , so goddamn _happy_ like only just by remembers him is enough to make her smile.

I want to blow this anger toward him, but as always, my nervousness is on the way. I hate it, but I have no choice. I'm still afraid of how he will respond. Instead, I clench my hand quite hard to relieve the madness inside me. I sigh again heavily and I turn my sight down to the snowy road we're currently walk on.

"...is Mama... really gone?" I whisper that without thinking. My mouth just moved itself and letting out that question, forgetting the nervousness and madness earlier.

But when I said that, I see him freezes. Two seconds. And I may be imagining that his expression is... wilting... for a bit. But it only lasts for millisecond. That was the most _expressive_ face I have ever seen from him, even for only some seconds.

 _Maybe he..._

"...yes." He answers with a hint of tightness and then continue to walk again. He seems like it was easy to answer to that, but I know he was hesitating for a moment there. But then again, why he seems so sure about that that he only answer with a simple 'yes'? I stand still while I'm thinking about his short answer regarding Mom.

What is Mama to him? What was that expressive reaction? Did I trigger something to him? Well, maybe- _of course_ anybody would be triggered if you asked about someone dear to them. So, is that mean that he cares about Mama? All this time? But why he didn't show any sign of it when the first day we met, the day he said to me that she was no longer here?

And I don't know how long I've been standing here that my father has to turn around and calls out to me. I shake my head to drive away my reverie of thought and begin to walk, catching up with him.

 _Maybe he does think about Mom._

* * *

My father spends the morning observing the southern district. He wanders around the place, searching for anything that might give him some hint. Actually, I don't really know what he's actually doing. Just a wild guess. Sometimes he squints his eyes at some object, frowning as if he's thinking about something. And sometimes he enters houses (under permission of course), and mutter something that I don't quite hear. It's like... he's playing detective. Or it's part of his job too?

When my father gets a suspicious object (I think), he scrutinizes it. I also take a look at it. It's a torn red paper with some kind of symbol on it. I don't get what symbol it is, but probably it's a symbol of the other village... I guess. But it's torn in a quarter that it doesn't get a full picture.

He turns his head around to search if there any other matching pieces. Seeing him, I get the initiative to search too. After seconds, I detect a piece of red on a snowy ground at the left side of me. I walk to take it, look at the paper, and there's some kind of part of a symbol too.

"Papa, I got one!" I turned to him. But when I look at him, he stiffens. Then turn his head slowly on me and blinks.

 _Did I just say something weird?_

Wait a minute. _Oh_. I just called him 'Papa' for the first time. Oh gosh. I turn my face away from him to hide my blush. _Goddammit! It's so awkward!_ But there's nothing wrong with it, right? He _is_ my Papa, so I can call him that, right?

But not long after that, he walks toward me, stares at the object on my fingers. I give the paper to him and he takes it, squinting at it, black eyes focus on one point. After it seems seconds he's thinking, he whispers something like, "could it be" with a scowl. Then he shakes his head and put away the papers to his pocket.

"Let's go," he says and walks away.

"Where are we going next?" I ask as I follow him from behind.

"Western district. I need to get to the mountains," he answers quickly.

"Mountains? Do you think we might get something there about the attack?" I just know that we're talking about it.

"Perhaps. It might took some time, but I'm not in a hurry."

"Okay." Even though he said that, we're walking in a quite quick pace.

* * *

Oh my God, it's _freezing_. I should've known mountains are the worst when in winter. We don't even get far in yet, but I already feel that my neck is so cold, my jaw is clattering. Contrary to my Dad, he just walks through without any hint of freezing.

 _Well yeah, since he's cool. And yes, pun intended._

When Dad climbs to the highest ground, I try to follow him with my tiny hands and legs. The rocks are so slippery, covered with snow and ice that I every time I get to the upper rock, my hand slipped out and I fell down ungraciously to the ground. And Dad is already up there. I feel so _left out_.

 _Ugh, I hate myself_.

He turn his head down at me. I look back at him with an embarrassed smile. Because I'm still at the lowest ground, don't make any progress of climbing up. It's not that I'm bad at climbing. This is my first time. Of course in the first time we sucks! And yet I have no experience in climbing walls, _yet_ the snowy, slippery walls.

Dad turns his head upward, looking at the mountain's cliff that still need to be climbed. He sighs and he suddenly jumps off from the cliff and turns to me.

 _Wow_.

"Wait down here and eat your lunch," Dad says.

"But... I want to go with you..." Even though I said it, my body is shivering from the cold and my teeth still clatter. I really do though, because Mom rarely takes me to the western district. We only often get to wander around the east and south. The north, not so much either.

He sighs again, puffing out cold smokes. "I need to get to the upper mountain and its way colder up there, and we won't know what's up there since it's dangerous. Go get some rest. I'll meet you here later." His eyes are softening a bit.

"Oh... okay. How about your lunch?" I ask him and stretch out a bag with two lunch boxes inside.

"I won't be long. I'll eat it when I'm done up there."

"Then I'll just wait and eat lunch together with you," I smile a bit at him.

He pauses for a moment. Then he exhales softly. _It's beginning to be one of his hobby. Sighing._ "Alright."

My smile widens. "Okay then." After I reply, he nods at me and quickly climbs the rock walls to the cliffs expertly.

Even though he only have one hand, he seems really professional at it. He do it like it's nothing. I guess he didn't travel for years for nothing too then. Or even before he began travel he already an expert.

I wonder what else he's expert at. Cooking, climbing, and swordsmanship probably, since I saw him used a sword in three years ago. _Interacting with his daughter..._

Yeah right. I roll my eyes at the thought and sighs. Well, at least he's not pushing me to keep following him and keep on climbing those slippery rocks. I'm still wondering how he can climb that easy without feeling any cold. I wish I could be like him too. No, not for being away for years. But being so pro at anything.

I walk and search the nearest rock to sit on. When I find one, I sweep the snow off of it and sit down, being a sweet girl, waiting patiently for her father to come back.

I'm still thinking about his feelings toward Mom. After witnessing his reaction when I mentioned Mom, I'm beginning to be more puzzled about his feelings toward her. He seems to think about Mom, and yet he never show any grieves. Is he really that reserved? Or he doesn't love Mom the same way as Mom loves him? Or it's just when he's around me, he keeps it to himself? These questions are filling my mind to the fullest. And I'm wondering when I will get the answers.

And when it's already last for half an hour, my eyes are beginning to be heavier. When I cannot hold it any longer, I surrender and close my eyes.

* * *

"Sarada."

A hand gently shakes me on my shoulder. I lift my eyelids a bit. _Oh, did I fall asleep?_ I open my eyes more and lift my head to the person who calls me.

"Papa...?" I rub my eyes to get a better clearing. When I open them again, yes, it's Dad. "What... time is it...?" I ask. I look at the sky and it's seems not really long after Dad went up to the mountain.

"It's almost sunset. It took longer than I thought," he sighs and rubs his hair to dust the snow off of his head.

"Did you—" I yawn. "—find something?" I stretch my hand upward and exhale.

He shakes his head. "Not yet. I have to get back there, but I guess we should call it a day and eat our lunch."

"Hmm. I bet they're already freezing. The lunch, I mean," I turn my head to look at the lunch bag. We've been here for about three hours, and this place is cold like a fridge.

"I made them chilled." He says as he sweeps the snow off on the rock beside me and sits down.

"Mkay..." I answer sleepily and take the lunch boxes out from their bag, giving one to Dad. We eat our lunch together, and for the first time, there's no awkward air lingering around me.

 _Nah, probably it's only because I just woke up from my brief sleep earlier._

After we're done eating, I and Dad walk back to home together. And as always, we're walking in silence, but somehow, it's a bit more comfortable than usual. No nervousness or anything. I guess it's a good thing for me.

"Are we going to do this again tomorrow?" I ask him.

"Yes, but we might want to go back to the mountain in the afternoon. It's less cold." He answer firmly.

"Okay."

And from now, I might starting to get closer to Dad with joining his 'walk' around the village. The thoughts make me grinning like a stupid, happy girl.

* * *

 _ **A/N** : Hello o/ kinda late again lol but anyway, here's chap3. And have you guys been watching Sasuke Shinden? I'm thinking how long will it lasts. I bet it'll be around 6 or 8 episodes. Hmm..._


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

It's the third day my Dad and me 'investigating' around Konoha. Dad already gets some clues, but it seems they aren't enough for him to suspect anyone who did the attack. He even asked (a few) people around.

Whenever Dad did something that I couldn't do to follow him (like climbing those snowy mountains), I stayed still waiting for him to come back. Then we resumed to our next destination. So I don't really know how really it's going, but it seems Dad starting to get some hints about the culprit.

We already traveled through almost the whole village. Actually, I think he doesn't only inspect about the attack. Sometimes he just looking around to the bustling village, with people constantly giving a respecting bow toward him. I never asked his motives of doing that. Probably just one of his hobby.

Maybe he's stalking someone? Or just seeking for people's attention? _...Nah._

Our conversation gets... a little development. Dad's starting to tend to reply a bit longer and also he does expression a bit more. And I'm also starting to get used to his simple grunts, nods and short replies. And I'm getting to know him a bit better, though it's really hard because those curt replies sometimes get me really _annoyed_.

Even though, we didn't get even talk about Mom yet. I just don't have the perfect timing for it. And Dad himself didn't mention Mom for once. When the last time I asked him about Mom being gone, I just know that he thinks about her, cares about her. But it's been three days since that day and the doubt is beginning to rise again.

Or he just doesn't want to? If so, then why? I don't really know the reason if it is about him doesn't want to talk about her. I may get some ideas why, but I'm not really sure. I just don't see those in Dad. Yet. Directly. And I don't know when I will get the chance to know it from him.

And now, we're currently in Uncle Naruto's house. Uncle is currently still resting his wounds, so he works at his house instead. We enter his room, he addresses both of us and I greet him back, then he calls to Boruto.

"Hi, Sarada! Good morning, Uncle Sasuke!" Boruto grins at me and then bows to Dad, showing his respect with his excited face. And Dad nods to greet him back. Boruto turns his attention at me and raises a brow. "Guess we're going out again, huh?"

"Sorry, Boruto, Sarada, but we're having something to discuss privately." Uncle Naruto smiles at both of us in apology.

Boruto puts both of his hands on his hips and make a face. "You both won't do anything weird, right?"

I stiffen at that. Then I slap his head. "Boruto!"

"Hey, I was just joking! You don't have to hit me, geez," he whines as he rubbing his back of his head where I slapped him.

I hear Dad says to Uncle Naruto, "what are you teaching your son, idiot?"

The blonde man only sighs a bit exasperatingly and palms his face. "Just, go play outside with Sarada. Bring Himawari too."

Boruto pouts. "You just want to shoo us off, don't you?"

Uncle Naruto frowns a little at that, probably doesn't know how to reply. I already know the intention why Dad and Uncle Naruto send us out, since Dad already said to me that this is none of my (or our) business. Probably because we're still _kids_. And kids don't butt into adults' business. I roll my eyes inwardly.

But then, Aunt Hinata comes to the rescue in replying their son, "Boruto, Dad and Uncle Sasuke have some business to take care of, and it needs to be discuss with only the both of them, because it's a really important matter. And this matter is none about you, so you don't need to worry and go play with Sarada instead, okay?" Aunt Hinata smiles reassuringly at Boruto.

Boruto turns his head down a bit, scratches his back neck and sighs. "I know, I know... You don't have to explain that long."

"Well, go have some fun, then. And I think the park is already fixed, it should be available today, so you can go there now." She replies again with brighter tone.

"Alright, Mom. Let's go, Sarada, Hima," Boruto murmurs and turns to the door leading outside.

Before I go out, I wave my hand at Dad, "I'll meet you later, Papa!"

He nods at me. "Aa." Then he makes a little smile at me. At that, I grins widely, turn myself to go outside and catch up with Boruto and his sister.

 _Every day is just getting better and better._

* * *

"She's getting fonder with you, Sasuke."

"You think?"

"Of course. I saw her like a scared kitten with you around at the first time you bring her here. Now look at her. She even called you 'Papa' now!"

"..."

"I know that she will be happy if you _take care_ of her. You're his father, anyway, right?"

"...yeah."

"Uh huh. And I bet she'll be stronger with you, man. In all terms, that is. But even before she's raised by Sakura, so you probably will teach her what's left."

"..."

"Don't be silent at that. You know I'm right. Are you regretting that you left her for all these years?"

"..."

"Hey, bastard. Answer me or something. Don't tell me you actually _do_ regret it?"

"No father would wish to leave his daughter behind, Naruto."

"...yeah. You're right. Then what will you do? You're not going to leave her again this time, are you?"

"I'd really do anything to stay with her forever. I really would. But you know fate won't allow me; not in this situation... I'm currently having. They even already took my wife away."

"Sasuke..."

* * *

"You look happy." Boruto grins, showing off his teeth with his brow lifted.

We're at the village's park in the western district, near Uncle Naruto's house. It's almost nearing the mountains, so it's kind of chilly here. I'm sitting on one of the park's swing with Himawari, and Boruto leans on the tree trunk of the swing, with his both hands under his head.

"Do I?" I reply to him.

"Duh, you were smiling in the entire of our walk to here." He snorts. "So, he's really your Dad, huh? I heard you called him 'Papa' before we went off."

Ah, right. The last time I talked with Boruto was about me having a doubt issue about Dad.

Come to think of it, well... it's been about a week we stayed together. Despite of his horrible initiation of making a conversation with his own daughter, whom is me, he's been really taking care of me. Making breakfast, lunch and dinner by his own for both of us, took me to his adventurous work (I get to know Konoha better!), and, even he never start a topic first, he never tends to ignore me. Well, maybe sometimes, but it's when I asked him something that didn't need an answer or he really didn't want to talk about it. If that happens, I usually just drop it off.

I never really know what a father should do with his daughter, actually. Well, because... _you know_. But one thing I know for certain about being a father:

He protects his family.

Isn't that what has he been doing all this time? But been away for years from home, could it be called 'protecting' his family? If so, how? He wasn't even near us in the meantime.

But that's the past, and now, Dad is home. With me.

"Well, I'm beginning to think that he is. He stays with me, after all," I answer with a smile.

"That's good for you, sis Sarada. He's been really taking care of you, then!" Himawari cheers.

I hum and nod in agreement with her. Although, there's one thing still bothering me though, but I dessert the thoughts for a while. Dad has been taking care of me; that's what matters now.

"So, what's your Dad do, Sarada? Have guys like, defeat bad guys? 'Cuz you know, he's a _hero_. That's what a hero do, right?" Boruto asks fascinatingly. I never seen him this excited before, yet it's all about my Dad. He's always been a snotty brat and wears an annoying smug face. Until Dad comes home and meet him, it's like he's a whole new person. His face is all gleaming in excitement.

 _I know my Dad is cool, but what makes him so intrigued?_

"He _is_ a hero, but we even didn't meet any bad guys yet. We've been walking through Konoha, looking around, and we climbed the mountain. Well, only him, though, I wait for him at the base ground, sitting on a rock." I explain and shrug.

"He climbed the mountain? In winter? That's cool! He wasn't freezing?" He's getting more excited.

"Apparently not. He even climbed with only his single hand and both feet, and I didn't saw him slipped climbing those slippery, rocky walls once." I can't help but to add some proud tone at that.

"Damn, you're one lucky girl, Sarada, for having such a badass Dad! What else does he do?"

"Hmm. He cooks very well. And probably he's good at sword; I saw him sharpening his sword at the backyard yesterday. And I ever told you that he used his sword to protect me from those fiery arrows, right?" I shift my feet to move the swing.

"Gosh, I wish I could be his apprentice. Do you think he would take a student, Sarada?" Boruto asks.

"Huh?" I raise my brows at that. Talking about student, he never get to teach me something about what he knows. Since Mom was still here, I've been taught a lot by her. Dad hasn't give me anything to learn yet. "I don't know. Why don't you ask to your own Dad to teach you something?"

His face shifts drastically to a boring, lazy expression. "Meh, my Dad is always busy. He even rarely have time to be at home. This week he stays at the house just because he's currently still hurt from the attack." Boruto takes both of his hands from his head to shove them to his pockets and he pouts.

"I guess all Dads are the same, then," I giggle. Still, I think that Boruto have it better. His Dad stays on the village, while mine... he's everywhere _but_ Konoha. Anywhere that away from our house. Never once came home for a dinner and stay for a night with his family. But that was before he's finally home. I tell to myself that even without Mom, Dad is still here with me.

Even Mom is gone now, I still have Dad staying with me.

But I can't seem to be so convinced by my own self-reassuring statement.

"Yeah, guess so." He shrugs and grins. "But hey, seriously, do you think he'll take me as his apprentice if I ask him?"

"I said I don't know, Boruto, he's always been all by himself. I never heard he pick an apprentice before." I shrug again. "Besides, he didn't even teach me anything yet."

Boruto lifts a brow. "He didn't?" He crosses his arms in front of his chest. "You just don't ask him anything yet, Sarada. Right?"

"Well..." He's right, though. I never asked him to teach me anything. I can cook a little, knows some medicine and drugs, and do some defensive acts from Mom. What could my Dad teach me, I wonder? Climbing mountains? Sword skills?

But I doubt that he can teach me something. He's way to reserve; he even can't communicate well, he only replies with grunts and direct answers! How can he even teach his daughter about what he knows if he can't even make a nice conversation?

"Come on, you're his daughter, he _will_ teach you something if you yourself ask him. Why wouldn't he?" Boruto seems to read my mind.

"Yeah, and I'm sure of it too, sis Sarada! Since Uncle Sasuke is a nice person!" Himawari chimes in merrily.

And he's right again about that; I'm his daughter. And a father should teach his daughter something. Right?

Maybe I should ask him something to learn someday. He's a traveler anyway, he should have a lot to teach. And stories to tell.

And I wonder I could ask him how he can be with Mom too.

 _That's a total different matter, Sarada._

Whatever.

* * *

When it's dinner time, I'm already at home with Dad, eating together at the dining table. Dad has talked a lot with Uncle Naruto regarding the attack, but he never mentioned about it to me. _Since it's not my business, duh._ I still don't really know how it's progressing.

As I recall what I was talking with Boruto and Himawari, I might want to ask him something about himself. And if he could teach me something he knows... "Papa?"

"Hn?" He hums as he picks a slice of tomato with his chopsticks. Since yesterday he always eat that thing. Is that his favorite food? Wait... I do remember that Mom mentioned that Dad loves to eat tomato when I refused to eat it.

" _Your father loves tomato, Sarada, so you should be too!"_

Just because tomato is my Dad's favorite _doesn't mean_ it's his daughter favorite too. I roll my eyes inwardly as I'm thinking about it.

"You seem expert at cooking and climbing mountain... is there anything else you're expert at?" I ask him.

As always, he delays for a moment. There is some time when he answers immediately without taking a second, but that's something already planned in his head, or just a definite 'yes' or 'no'. Whenever I ask him something about a bit of personal matters, he takes a pause to answer, like thinking whether he should answer me or not. It supposed to be a not really long moment, but for me waiting for his answers, it really took _that_ long.

"I do swordsmanship for years. I also do some martial arts, but not the kind of what your mother's do." He replies and chew his slice of tomato.

I can't help but to notice that. _He mentioned Mom._ I widen my eyes at that. That is the first time he mentioned Mom when we talk, aside from the first day we met on the aftermath of the attack. But I choose not to linger too long about that, since he probably mentioned her unguardedly. And since he mentions her, I take the chance to take that subtopic to my next question.

"I see. Did you... spar with Mama?" I ask cautiously.

He smirks. _He smirks! That's a first._ And it's kind of full-of-pride smirk."Your mother always the one who asked me first, and probably, she's the only person in the world who could make me knee to the ground in just half an hour."

 _Wow. Is Mama really that strong?_ I never get really see Mom in a real fight. But then again, I also never see Dad fighting bad guys with my own eyes. It would be really amazing to see my parents sparring together with their own power, their own fighting skills. Martial arts is not everything here in Konoha though, but it seems my parents have some _real_ talents in it.

And Dad said that Mom is the only person who could make him _knee_ to the ground in _just_ half an hour. Just how strong my parents are? _How badass they really are?_

I feel something sparkling in my chest... like excitement. And proud. And yet, Dad is talking about Mom _right now_.

I beam at him. "Wow. That's amazing! Although, your cooking is a bit better than Mama's", I giggle a bit, adding to lightening the mood.

"Actually, I'm the one who taught her to." He sneers. _Dad taught Mom to cook?_ That is so... _sweet._ I know it! There is _something_ between them. _Of course, they are husband and wife._ My excitement is just getting higher. And I'm starting to think of how Dad's teaching Mom how to cook. It brings tingly sensation in my chest. _I'm fangirling over my parents. Goddammit._

But when I'm about asking more, I see his expression shifts. His eyes soft and his brows furrow upward a bit, his smirk slowly turns into a little smile. His face is expressing something like... _longing_.

 _Oh no._ As much as I want to talk with Dad about Mom and see how he cares about her, I definitely do not expect Dad's having a sad face _like that_. Even though it's the first time I see this looks of his, witnessing something rare like this is a bit... wrong.

Because all this time, his face is always a bit stern, hiding any emotion. And from all I see his kind of faces (which are not really different at all), this one is _way_ too expressive. He even stays at that expression for more than a second and I'm beginning to understand how much Mom means to him just from that.

I know he's probably doing that unconsciously, that he's thinking about her right now, right at this moment. But I need to stop and distract him from his longing _right now_ because it's a face that I can't really stand on seeing. _It's like he's a total different person than he usually is._

No longer wanted to see his face like that (it's so _contagious_ that I want to cry all over again), I decide to divert the topic a bit, "could you... teach me something?"

His eyes turn to me, widening a little. He probably a bit surprised when I asked him that. Then he frowns, "what do you want to learn?"

"Well, anything, really. Mama already taught me cooking and some self-defense moves. I just thought that I might want to learn something from you, too," I shrug and grin at him.

And there are some seconds of delay. This time of moment is where my nervousness begins to surface. His answers might be anything, but I usually assume the worst and not really expecting something. But I also cannot help to hope to get a positive answer from Dad. But then again, I never get a rejection from him before. Isn't that a good thing?

"...we'll do a training tomorrow after breakfast. And in the afternoon, you'll come with me to the mountain." He responds quietly.

And just like that, I jump in excitement. "Really?" I can't help but to screech. "Thanks, Papa!" I approach and hug him tightly in delight. I feel him stiffens at this, and before I give him time to return the hug, I release him and smiles widely. "I'll look forward to it!" Then I take my dishes to the kitchen, cleaning them and then escape to my room and jumping in joy, missing him the way he smiles at me.

I can't help but to wonder what he'll teach me tomorrow. Probably something I just had in mind when I talked with Boruto this morning; sword skills and climbing. _Yeah right._ I roll my eyes inwardly, but despite that, it's better than to get nothing from Dad.

 _Yep. Definitely it's getting better._

* * *

 _A/N: hello :D did you guys watched the latest episode of Sasuke Shinden? Because I'm in super hype._


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

"Focus."

I hear Dad's voice behind me. We're currently at our backyard, and as Dad's promised, we're training in the early, chilly morning after we have breakfast. I didn't really know what he was going to teach me, until then...

I'm blindfolded. Still have no clue what we're doing.

I never had a training with my eyes covered closed before with Mom. She only showed me some self-defense moves if anyone will ever going to strike me and I have to take an action. Like how to take down your opponent in swift moves, knock them out cold, temporarily paralyze them so you can run to save your life. And she already taught me when I was 10.

In this mostly peaceful village, I rarely run into bad guys. Rarely. I ever used Mom's move on some guys in my school who bullied ChoCho, my closest girlfriend for calling her... well, bad names. I punched them in the face _and_ in their stomach to teach their lesson. And a lesson they learned indeed.

But this... this is a total different kind of training. My eyes are closed firmly but not too tight, cannot see a thing but blacks. Dad only told me to use the blindfold and listen to his instruction. And the first thing he instructs me is... to focus.

I thought he's gonna give me a stick to practice a sword skill or something. I never expect him to cover my eyes with a black fabric.

"In this state, you can hear, you can smell, you can taste, and you can touch." He explains, and now his voice is right in front of me. I didn't hear he moved; I _cannot_ hear his steps. "But you can also widen your senses in this kind of situation you're in."

"You mean widen my hearing, smelling and tasting?" I ask him.

"No."

"Then how?"

"Where do you think I am right now, in your position?"

"Uh... on my left?" I answer uncertainly.

Then a soft thud comes from the back of my head. "What was that?"

"My sword's scabbard."

"You hit my back of my head with that from my left?"

"Yes."

"So you're saying that you asked me if I can sense you on my back or the other side, you can hit me otherwise." I scowl. I almost want to say that cheating, but until he answers.

"No."

I make a face under the fabric, inquiring him to explain.

"I already positioned my scabbard on your backside of your head from the time I tell you that you can widen your senses, Sarada." Dad clarifies.

"What? But at that time, I swore I still hear you in front of me..."

"Sounds and voices indeed can determine an object's position, but without trained and focused mind and hearing, one can be fooled."

I can't help but kind of offended by that. But I understand what he implies. "But I couldn't hear that you positioned your scabbard behind my head, Papa."

"That's because you didn't sense it."

"With my...?" _Nose? Tongue? Skin?_ That sounds like a snake would do.

"Senses."

 _Right._ I roll my eyes underneath my fold. _Dad is a definite Mr. Obvious._ "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Without the help of your eyes, you can 'see' objects around you with the rest of your senses." I hear him—his voice—moves to the back. "Enemy can comes from anywhere. You wouldn't know who the enemy is and where they're come from, and they would be fooling around with your senses. Like just what I did, for a little example."

I nod at his explanation. "But isn't that the same as I said before?" I raise my brow as I ask him.

"What I meant by widening your senses is to focus all of your sensing, cumulate them with your mind. Feel the surroundings with all of your senses at the same time. And with that, your senses are sharpened."

"Oh." Yeah, it is kind of different by what I understood. I thought he meant it to widen each of the senses individually. Like if you need to hear something, you focus on your ear, and so on. But by uniting all of the senses at the same time? Never heard of that theory before.

"So... how that can be done? What should I do?"

"Concentrate. Don't let your mind waver. One second you distracted, you're letting the enemy to get their advantage on you." He firmly dictates. "Picture the surroundings with your mind. Sense their appearance. I won't tell the description of the environment right now; you have to feel it yourself. I'll give you an instruction, but until then, I'll remain silent." He finishes with an assertive tone.

"Alright." It sounds like meditating, but it's completely different kind. I have to be aware to the surroundings, and there's no time to relax, even if it looks that I'm doing nothing outside. While at the inside, my mind is contemplating whether my Dad's still here, if there's anything on the ground that I could be stumble on if he tells me to walk, and whether my Dad left me standing at the backyard with my blindfold still tied like an idiot.

But either way, I put my thoughts aside, sharpening and sensing the surroundings with my... senses. And _no_ , I'm not tasting the air with my tongue like a snake, sniffing like a dog, and touching around like a blind person. Well, I _am_ currently... _whatever_.

It sounds easy just being told to, but when you do it, it's _harder_ than you think. Especially when you have to know the existence of objects without looking at them directly. I don't really believe at the theory of 'aura' that emits from an object, but from what my Dad explained earlier, it seems that I have to feel the existence of it. Is that like sensing with your sixth sense? Doesn't that mean that I could sense a ghost too if I could do this?

I never met a ghost before, but Mom ever told me that she was afraid of dark when she was a little. I wonder if Mom ever get trained by Dad like this too.

Come to think of it, I remembered what I thought about how he would teach me yesterday. Actually, he's good at explaining something like this. He's brief, to the point, and I can get what he implies. He's actually a good teacher. But why when it comes to talking with his only daughter, he's kind of sucks?

"I said focus." Dad growls lowly.

I stiffen. How could he know that I currently _not_ focus? Does my face looks so obvious?

Okay. That aside, I try to put away my blabbering thoughts and start to focusing my mind. For real now.

I can feel the cold of winter on my exposed skin and the chilly air at the brink of my nose. I picture the house at the left side and wooden fence with some trees at the right. The ground is dusted by snow, almost concealing any sound that lands on it. The surrounding is calm, the only sound there is the blowing wind and the distance voices of people of the village surround the streets.

And Dad is... I don't know if I get it right, but I feel him behind me.

It's only a simple picture, and I'm not really sure that I get everything right in place. But I can see under my blindfold that every objects have their own 'color'. Like the bit red of heat morning sunray, shades of blues of certain objects in surrounding. I currently don't see Dad in front of me, but I get the feeling that he has the shade of red too.

From that picture I got, now I understand the difference between living object and the still ones. While the living object emits a heat temperature that it has shade of red, the still object doesn't really has something to emit from the inside that it only has shade of dark or blue. Dad didn't explain to me about this before, but I find it out myself. And I'm proud of it and grinning inwardly.

"Now, get inside the house and bring me a glass of water."

"What?" I'm bewildered at his command and just automatically say that.

"Stay focus." He tells firmly.

I slowly inhale, and exhale the same way. I want to protest what the point of this training is (probably he suddenly gets thirsty or something), but I comply anyway. _It's just to get a glass of water._

I slowly take steps to the house, very carefully and always take a tentative step at first, afraid if I stumble or slip on anything.

 _I'm acting like a total blind person right now._

* * *

 _30 minutes later_

I hold the glass filled with water, toward where I think my Dad is currently standing on.

"Hn." Dad hums. _Oh, he actually a little left beside me._ I turn myself to the voice's source. And he sighs.

 _What, do I get it wrong again?_

But Dad gets the glass from my hand carefully, and I feel that comes in front of me. Oh, so I get it right, right now.

"That took you half an hour long." Dad comments with a bit exasperation in his tone.

I twitch. " _Duh_ , I'm blindfolded, I bumped at walls and sofa and chairs several times, and I almost dropped the glass and break it!" I pout at him and cross my arms in front of my chest. "And yet its Mom's favorite glass; I know it from the shape. Probably I'll cry forever if I turned out breaking it because Mom will curse me from somewhere up there."

I hear Dad snorts.

 _Really_. I didn't expect it to be that _hard_. When I thought I already put everything in right places in mind, when I tell my body to move to get a _single glass and fill it with water,_ everything went blur and gone from my mind, just like that. I guess I'm really bad at concentration. Or it's just that my first time doing this and makes me that I'm really _that_ _bad_.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It's a simple training, as it may seems. If you do it routinely, you will done this in only mere seconds without stumbling." Dad explains softly and ruffles my hair.

I stiffen. And I feel my cheeks getting warmer from the gesture. _This is the first time I get such an affectionate act from Dad._ I can't help but to duck my head slowly to hide my stupid wide grin.

When Dad retracts his hand from my head, I lift my head back and frown, "but Papa, I can't really see the point of this training. How can a training with bringing you a drink could widen my senses?"

He chuckles softly. My eardrums vibrate from the sound of that. "You'll see it when you finally can open your blindfold."

I make a face at that. _Did Dad just..._ I laugh when I understand what he meant. "That's _really_ funny!" I roll my eyes under my eyelids. _Apparently my Dad can make a joke._ This recently Dad seems to be letting out some rare emotional acts. And I like it.

He chuckles again. "I mean it, Sarada." Then, I feel my forehead being poke by two fingers. "You'll get it someday."

I freeze. That gesture earlier... is the same gesture as Mom always did to me. Suddenly I feel my heart clenches painfully yet warmly. My sights full with Mom's blinding smiles and caring expressions. And every moment which she poked my forehead so softly surfaced to my mind.

My eyes are starting to get flooded with tears. _I miss Mama so much_. It's been a week since she's gone. It's not like that I never be left alone at house by her, she got a lot of works, especially in the hospital. Some nights she didn't come home because of emergencies. She ever gone for an entire day, but in the end, she still came home.

And now, she's gone. For good.

"Mama..." I mutter lowly as I bring my hand to my forehead. I feel my tears are threatening to fell down and I quickly press my blindfold with my back of my hand. _Oh Goddammit we're in the middle of training and I'm crying!_

I hear Dad sighs softly and pat my head soothingly, as if he catches my troubled emotion of missing my Mom. "...let's take a break. We have two hours left before we leave for the mountains." He says softly.

I nod silently at him. As he starts to get inside the house, I call him. "Papa?"

I hear him stop at his track. "Hn?"

"Do you... do you missed Mama?" I question him with a shaking tone from nervousness, my sobbing and cold.

Silent. I can only hear the blowing chilly wind. I don't know what kind of expression he's wearing, but I can imagine that he's frowning like last night, minus the longing smile. I actually already know how he feels toward Mom, but I want to hear directly from him.

All this time, he's been honest with me. Although Dad only answers in brief words, none of it seemed to be a lie. I saw that he was enjoying our conversation about Mom last night, even in the end he made that such a _sad_ face. It was only a little shift from his normal face contours, but judging for what kind of person he is, that kind of face is really expressive just from him. And it was a completely honest face, yet unguarded.

When it seems already take a really long time, I hear him whispers so low that if I didn't really pay attention, I might missed that.

"A lot more than you know." Then he continues his steps and enters the house.

I stand still at my ground, stupefied. I actually already know that Dad misses Mom. _Of course he is, who am I kidding?_ Even after what he gave last night, I'm pretty sure that he is. And just now, I hear it from his own voice. I should be feel relieved by now.

But after his answer earlier, when he finally admits it, I feel that I cannot move my mouth to comment him. It's not surprising, no. I already said I knew he misses her. It's just... I feel kind of shocked (which is literally the same thing) when I hear him so openly admitting his emotion. Especially about Mom. I cannot see his face, since my eyes are still closed by the black fabric. But from his voice, I know he wasn't lying in replying and it's full of emotion that I cannot define it by only one word.

It seems that you cannot really judge people from the outside, when you really don't know what's going on inside of them. He was so honest in that answer, and I almost want to cry again.

* * *

" _I-It's freezing, Papa!"_ I scream.

"Hn."

 _Oh Goddammit_ with his annoying grunt! I swear I'll choke his throat with snows so he won't be able to reply with that stupid default answer!

Its way, _way_ colder up here. Just like he told me at the first time we get here. But I did not _ever_ think it will be this _goddamn cold_. And like he promised, we're currently at the top of the western mountain of Konoha.

Before you think that I can finally climb up the icy wall, no.

I did not climb up the wall.

Because my Dad carried me on his back way up through here. How could he do that? Well, I don't know. Because I'm currently asking myself with that same question. But it happened. Really.

I insisted to try to climb the wall myself, but every time I took a hand on a rock and lift myself, I slipped off. He sighed (like always) and told me that he would teach me to climb, but climb on an icy, slippery wall is not a good start. So I complied and he took me on his back. And he climb like a _damn_ _lizard._ I giggled at the analogy.

But the giggle is quickly banished as we finally reached the top. I feel that I will be frozen for good if I stay here any longer. And I'm currently thinking what in the _hell_ we're doing in this extremely chilly place. Don't tell me we're going to practice here!

God have mercy.

"Fight it."

"Huh?" I snap my head at Dad.

"Don't give in to the weather. You have to fight it if you don't want to be frozen." Dad explains.

"And h-how in t-the _goddamn hell_ I fight this cold? P-Punch them in the f-face?" I can't help but to let out a swearing, because this extreme temperature really gets me on my nerves. Really, how could a human being handle this cold?

Apparently, I just know the answer right when the question popped out: Dad.

I can see the slight shift on his expression at my attitude. But it doesn't linger long. "Use your mind. Order your body to warm yourself up mentally. You can keep moving your body to let out some heat, but you can also use your own notion." He informs.

"Is that w-why you keep standing in f-front of me, not m-moving a bit and n-not shivering f-from the cold?" I asked with my jaw clattering endlessly.

"It needs time to practice. You won't immediately adjusted, you need to keep moving your body to keep your temperature steady, but also focus your mind. Make yourself an enchanting sentence or a word of an order, and keep that in your thought."

An enchanting sentence, huh? I can do that. Make a simple word or sentence and keep yourself saying that, so your body subconsciously obeyed to the order. It's like self-suggesting, it seems. But is it really just like that? I can't really believe that because the theory itself seems so simple, but not really at the same time.

"While we're searching for what I need, keep yourself focused." And Dad turns his back and makes his way.

 _Ugh._ I guess it won't hurt if I just oblige to him and let myself freeze. Okay, no—I won't let myself freeze. Concentrate, tell myself to be _warm, warm, warm,_ and start to follow his tracks and move my body with some actions I learned from Mom. I know walking won't be enough, so I do this while following my Dad from behind. And I think this is a good practice for myself. Punch, kick, stretch, and so on.

If there are any other people out here, they might see me crazy. But it's only Dad and me here, so screw it. I do every movements I know, and suddenly it comes to my realization that it looks like that I'm _literally_ fighting the cold. _Right._

But aside that, it really helps, though. My body is not so freezing like before, but I still feel the cold. And my clattering jaw and shivering body seem to calm down without me realizing it. And I missed the second that Dad glances at me and smiles approvingly.

* * *

Its night, and we're home and I'm laying down at the sofa. Dad is currently making dinner.

We—no, _I'm_ so tired from all that don't-get-yourself-freezing training. I didn't realize that we actually stayed there for two hours. And surprising yet, I didn't freeze. I successfully kept myself stayed warm, and at the nearing end of Dad's inspection of the place, I almost didn't feel the cold anymore, and I stopped all the punches and kicks when I didn't feel the need to do it. But as soon as we arrived home, my body is all stiffened and sore and I throw myself to the couch, laying on my stomach.

As I lay myself to rest my body, I'm concluding all what we did today. Both of the training was so simple, didn't involve any physical action. They simply use a focused and concentrated mind. As simple as it may seems, like Dad said, it was really hard, since it's my first time doing it.

So it was kind of like this. You try to not let yourself distracted by anything, and yet by relaxing yourself is a distraction. While your body is still, your mind is working really hard to centralize at one specific point and you're doing your best to keep it like that for the whole time.

Mom never taught this kind of training before. It was all physical, learning with punch and kick. She didn't taught me all the moves yet, but it was enough for me to defend myself from bad guys (if there are any). I sometime sparred with Mom and it was simple, like Mom being the bad guy and I tried to defend myself, and vice versa. And aside the physical training, Mom also taught me some medical knowledge, just the basics of it.

While Dad, for our first day of training together, don't use any kind of physical moves. It doesn't even use _any_ single move to begin with. You are only ordered to do so when your mind is already focused. So the first thing is the mind itself. Your inner thoughts.

I wonder why Dad didn't teach me sword skill, since that's what he can do (and it would be cool). He did say that he would teach me to climb walls, but not in winter. All he told me is simply to focus actually, and did what he instructed me. I don't really know the point of having your mind trained to be focused. For now. But maybe, if I keep on this training Dad give me, I'll find out soon.

And maybe, I'll find out more than this.

* * *

 _ **A/N** : hello :) so here's the new chapter. And I have to tell you guys that I might update the fic much late in schedule from next week, because I'm currently have to work on my report for college assignment. And I have to use my holidays to work on it :( but no worries, I made the chap6 for next week's update. I'll try to update as much as I can in my middle of my work. Thank you for reading!_


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

It's our fourth day of training. I and Dad are at our backyard, continue to practicing my senses. I feel that I'm getting a bit better; Dad has been quite merciless after our first day, he kept telling me to repeat his instruction until the time we about to go to the mountain, barely have the time to get rest. I didn't whine though, because I'm eager with this training. And curious.

Or it's just me wanted to spend time with Dad. I don't know.

And because of that, I'm getting better in focusing my mind and concentrate with all of my senses in just three days. The picture is getting much clearer behind my blindfold, even though I'm still tentative in taking my steps and movements, but hey, now I'm barely stumble or bump into things. The instruction is varied now, aside from bringing Dad a glass of water, sometimes he tell me to get other things like a sheet of newspaper, his coat (without telling me where he put it), and... Bringing him a tomato, fresh from the fridge.

No, really. It happened.

But anyway, the training still continues. And it's early morning after breakfast, and I'm blindfolded and ready to get his next instruction and wondering what it'll be today.

"So, what should I bring you this time, Papa?" I ask with my hands on my hips.

"Nothing." Dad answers.

"Huh?" Does that mean we're done with this training?

"You're going to follow me to walk to the village with your blindfold on."

 _Oh wow_. It seems that I'm getting to the next stage of the training. It's getting more exciting!

"That's great! Where should we start then?" I ask him fascinatingly with my both hands curled into fists in excitement.

Just when I feel Dad is about to answer, there's a loud bang at our front door of our house. I jump in shock at the sound.

"SASUKE!"

It's Uncle Naruto's voice and he screams Dad's name. I hear my Dad rushes to the front door, and I follow him as I undo my blindfold and take my glasses on. It seems the situation is quite tense as I see Uncle Naruto's _really_ serious face. And I know by that that he's bringing something not _really_ good.

"What is it?" Dad asks with a calm but rather stern tone.

"There's a commotion in the North, and I think it's the one who attacked the village last week. We have to come quickly!" Uncle Naruto replies urgently.

Dad nods firmly and starts to follow Uncle Naruto runs into the snowy road.

"W-wait, what about me?" I yell at Dad and he stops.

"You're staying home." He answers without any second of delay.

I take some steps toward him, "But I—"

He shakes his head. "No. Stay until I come back." Then he goes running fast into the village and catches up to Uncle Naruto.

And there goes our next stage of training. _Oh well_. I shrug and sigh, step toward the couch and sit down unceremoniously.

With Dad's gone, I have nothing to do aside from training. Should I continue the training myself, then? But I don't know how to do the training without Dad's instruction. And if I wander around with the blindfold, people will see me weird and probably I'll bump into something that I don't remember it being there at the first place. _Oh man._ I sigh again at the thought.

I wonder what kind of commotion that happened in the North. Speaking of which, the northern side of the village is rarely have any trouble. That place is somehow always quiet and less populated and it was barely got damaged from the attack back then. I and Dad went to the place once, just for checking out, it seemed.

And now there's something happen there. I heard Uncle Naruto said that he thought it was the people who ambushed Konoha.

 _I hope Papa is okay._

* * *

"Uchiha. You're finally here."

"State your intention."

"I guess I don't have to. Isn't it obvious already to you?"

"Talk."

 _Scoffs._ "Huh. It seems our _hero_ is somewhat dense then. I cannot believe people call you that up until now."

"Why are you showing up just now."

"It's all about timing, Uchiha. Timing. Well, I guess you don't have the right sense of that. You lost your precious _thing_ because of that, didn't you?"

"You will answer me, or I'm going to have the snow drenched with your blood. Where are you from, and what do you want with me."

 _Snickers._ "After all these years and you don't even figure it out yet when this happened. Maybe what happens next after this will answer your questions."

"..."

"What do you mean by that, you prick? Are you gonna blast the village again?"

"Relax, _village chief._ We're not going to do that anymore. We already have what we wanted."

"...don't tell me."

"Oh yes, I do tell you, Uchiha. And as I said, it's all about timing, and time runs fast. And you're going to lost it once more."

 _SLASH!_

"Quick, Sasuke! I'll take care the rest!"

 _Sarada!_

* * *

It's 1 PM and Dad isn't home yet. I've been wandering around the house with my eyes closed with a black fabric tied back to my head. Well, you know, in case if that could make my senses better. I don't know what else to do, since Dad isn't here to give me any instruction.

Now I'm eating lunch, made it myself. Finally. It's not that I'm not happy with Dad's cooking; he's great, as I always say, and he cooked varies of foods, and all of them are good. I just feel that I wanted to eat something that I myself make. It's been a long time, you know. And when you eat with your own homemade foods, there is this a little bit feeling of proud, don't you think?

That, if the food tastes good of course.

As I finish eating my lunch, I wash the dishes and sit down on the couch once again. I take a glance to the clock. It's been around five hours Dad's away. I sigh heavily and turn my gaze away from the ticking clock.

I can't help but to feel bored waiting for Dad. For since he's been here with me, he always stays beside me and we do anything together. And Dad's getting more open with his emotions, even about Mom. Ever since we start our training, we talked about her, just a little bit or just mentioned her in the middle of our training. It's getting clearer that Dad thinks about Mom often. But I feel that I don't have enough satisfaction with his feelings about her.

Sure that he does care about Mom, but I wanted know just how much. Because after all these years, he's finally home, but it just have to be the time when Mom's gone. _Such a perfect timing._

I wonder if he's already long gone right after I was born. Or even before that. And what makes him determined to be away from home for years, and come back when I lost Mom? Does he know that Mom's no longer here and decided to come back to take care of me? Come to think of it, he came to me after hours of the ambush. Isn't that mean that he was near the village when the attack happened?

 _Uh_ , I don't know, I don't want to think about that right now. I'm finally able to get close with Dad now, and we've been doing really great. And I don't want to shatter this bond with doubting thoughts of mine. I'll wait when the time comes and I'll ask him all of these questions.

It's nearing 2 PM, and I'm thinking what to do now to waste time. I wanted to go to the mountain by myself, but Dad said I have to stay home and wait until he come back. Funny, when he's been away for almost ten years and I didn't think any single thing about him, and now he went out to the other side of the village for hours and I'm anxious about him getting back.

The training in the mountain is can be done with myself, without Dad's directing me. Well, even Dad doesn't instruct me anything other than focusing myself and fight the extreme temperature. And I should be fine if I train myself today.

Dad said he went to the north, right? The mountain is in the west side, so it should be okay for me to go there. The distance is quite far too, so the commotion shouldn't be spread to the other side. So...

Decided to go training to the mountain, I prepare myself, and left a note just in case if Dad goes home and looking for me. When I'm done, I step out from the living room and start to walk toward the western side of Konoha.

* * *

And damn it, I forgot that I _cannot_ climb the stupid mountain right when I arrive. I groan in exasperation and palm my face in frustration. _How can I forgot about this?_

Should I search someone else to piggy back me and climb up the mountain? ... _yeah right_. Like anyone else want to and can climb the slippery walls like my Dad does. I roll my eyes and sigh once again.

With this, I should be getting back home. But I've been walk so far to get through here just to remember that I cannot do anything here _without_ Dad carries me to the top.

Oh well. I guess I just train down here. It's cold here too, but not as cold as the upper mountain. But I guess I should get deeper to the valley too, just to challenge myself to the cold and have a little adventure. It won't hurt, right? Besides, I think I can defense myself. Mom taught me, remember. And I think the valley is the best place to practice my move plus Dad's mind training.

So I start to walk in to the deep of the valley. I have never been to the place before, but I guess it's alright, like there's going to be some wild animals and try to hunt me down. I just feel there will be no one here other than me, so it supposed to be safe.

...or so I thought.

When I finally get to step in to the valley, it's unusually silent. There is the sound of the icy wind blowing through, but I feel something other than that. _Feel_. Hmm. I furrow my brows at this. _I feel something weird._

I know this is the first time I get here, it's just that I know that something is off. I take a look around me, scrutinize every sides of the valley. Nothing seems to catch my attention, there's only snows and some trees.

Is it just me being paranoid?

But I can't shake the feeling off me. It's like saying that there _is_ something in here. I take careful steps deeper as I take a look once more just to find nothing that off the place. _So what is it?_

I remember what Dad taught me. _My senses. Of course._ Four days long I've trained my senses with Dad, it seems that I can feel something more, much aware. I cannot pinpoint that _something_ yet, so I have to focus my mind and try to figure out _what the hell wrong is in here._

I relax my stance, closed my eyes and start focusing. I let myself feel the cold, the freezing wind and hear the sound of it. Slowly the picture of the valley surfaces at the back of my head. I start scanning inwardly through the trees. There are only few of them, and it seems there's nothing weird behind them.

If it's not the trees... I focus my senses and concentrate to the mountains. It's quite hard because the mountain is high and the wall is thick. But I'm not planning to give up yet, and I sharpen my concentration more.

Then, I feel it. No—I feel _them._

It's kind of blur and not really _right_ at their place, but I can feel it. Their existence. And I feel there are three of them, hiding on the top of the mountain. I'm not sure that they are the only ones, but for now, I can only sense the three them. They seems not making any movements (yet), and their distance is about... a few meters behind me.

Then it hit me.

They're trying to corner me to the deep of the valley. I think.

I slowly exhale to calm myself down. This may be the first time I'm being encountered by unknown bad guys (I'm sure they are) _alone_ , and I'm not going to fall down to their trap. I'm trying to think what I should do to show themselves from their hiding.

I won't run away, no, I'm sure they're going to chase me down and they will know that I'm aware of them. I may be really sucks at first-times, but I can assure you that I'm not that stupid. At a situation like this, this is where you start to use your skill in intelligence.

I am lucky to be Mom's and Dad's only daughter.

So I start to continue my ministration: to get deeper to the valley. Yes, I know it will be playing downright to their game, but as I told you before, I'm not that stupid. I don't know how many minutes I've been staying on my ground, they might be already figured out that I sensed their appearance.

So I try to act myself unaware, shrugging my shoulders as if there's nothing to worry about, and walk myself through the valley like an innocent little girl who wants an adventure to herself. A normal twelve years old girl shouldn't have such kind of power in advanced senses, don't you think?

I walk as it like that I'm doing it absentmindedly, but my mind is fully cognizant of the stalkers behind me. And just as I thought, they're following me in slow pace, like a lion trying to hunt their prey. _Lion_ is an overstatement though, because their existence is already known by the prey.

And it's going to be a hunter being hunted. I smirk inwardly and can't help to feel a little smug at myself.

* * *

"Ah dammit! I think I'm lost." I sigh loudly so they can hear me. I scratch my head and put my hands to my hips.

It's been already roughly an hour and I'm at the other side of the front mountain. Well, actually I'm not really lost, I just can easily follow the frozen river and take the exit to the opening of the village. If they're that dense to take my earlier whine as their chance, then a trap of mine they fell into.

And you know what? Seems that I'm right.

I hear the wind changes and make sound of their movements. They're approaching me in quick steps, but they seem to be careful to not make any sound of it. Smart enough, but I'm more skilled that I could hear the sways of their ministration. The wind is quite calmer here, so I could sense them with my ears clearly.

As if in slow motion, one of the stalkers ready to pounce on me from behind. I wait for a moment until he's near me in a certain centimeters. I count in seconds as I focus my mind of his presence. I feel the other two are following him from behind to assist, but I'll deal with them later after this one.

And when that time comes, I turn abruptly in swift motion and I punch him in the gut.

Really. _Hard_.

So hard, that the man splutters saliva from his mouth. _Yuck._ But he deserves it. I shove him with much force and he falls back to the ground and whines in pain, clutching his probably broken stomach.

I smirk in victory.

"You little brat!" The other man with a mask hidden his half of his face shouts in disbelief for what I've done.

"You already know that we're here? How the heck is that possible!" Another man with a knife on his hand yell angrily.

I scowl at them. I feel the heat of my insides beginning to boil that I cannot feel the cold any longer. I fist my knuckles, and shout at their face loudly as if I'm screaming a battle cry.

"Don't you dare underestimate the Uchiha!"

And with that, I charge quickly to the one with the mask, and try to punch him in the face. He parries with his arms, and he grimaces at the force of my fist. I take the chance to kick hard the opening of his stomach and he stumbles down to the ground.

I feel the other one lunges at me, I take a glance behind. He stretches his hand with a knife in its hold, so I move to take that hand, spin around to his back and shove him down to the ground, pinned him and point his back of his neck with his hand holding the knife. All done in quick movements.

"T-the hell!" The man cries.

"I know what you think of me. And I'm gonna show you how _wrong_ you were." I growl and push my knee to his back harder.

Just when I'm about to continue, my head suddenly spins and hits the ground really hard. I wince at the pain. _What just happened?_

My mind starts to turn sluggish as the pain getting more hurt. My glasses are thrown away from the sudden move. I try to register what happened, but I fail as a hand roughly choke me down. I cough at the harsh gesture.

"It seems that I will be the one how _right_ we were." The man, the one with the mask it seems, snarls. I struggle from his grip, but he's tightening as I try to. _I can't breathe._

I open my one eye to take a look at him. He's threateningly hold a knife in his other hand at me.

 _Oh no._ I'm starting to get panic.

"I was told to bring you to our boss, but he didn't mention that we shouldn't kill you. So I'll just end it here!" He smirks evilly and starts to thrust the knife to my chest.

 _Oh shit._ _Shit shit shit shit shit—_

I close my eyes tightly and anticipating what's coming. But the only thing happen is that the grip on my throat suddenly loose, hear a growl of pain, and I cough from the abrupt relief. I try to catch my breath and bring a hand to my neck to soothe the pressure.

I open my eyes to see what happens. I frown as I see the surrounding is blur, and I realize that I actually missed my glasses. Searching around, and pick it up and wear it once I found it. I see a dark figure towering over the earlier man.

It's Dad.

And his face is _sure_ unhappy.

The man stutters, "U-Uchiha! W-why are you—"

"Leave. Now." Dad snarls with his jaw clenched.

"I-I'm sorry! We're just—"

"If you just come near to my daughter and see your hand touches her once again, I'll make sure you will no longer breathe for good." Dad glares menacingly down at the man.

The man trembles in fear and quickly take the unconscious man (the one who I punched in the first place) on his back and runs with his other companion away from sight.

I turn to face my Dad. His scowl is still there with his eyes tightly shut as if he trying to halt something inside him. Suddenly, I feel being choked again.

"Pap—"

"I told you to stay at home." He snapped at me harshly, his tone is suppressed by anger.

I stutter. "Y-yes, but—"

He turns abruptly to me, "What were you thinking? Going to the mountain all by yourself? Do you have any idea why I've been going here every day? They are here, Sarada, and you decided to go alone here to fall into their trap and get yourself almost killed." Dad scolds and glares at me.

"I-I'm fine! I could take care of them myself!" I defend myself. But then the earlier moment when the man throttled me, if Dad didn't come, I could have been...

"And let that man thrust his knife to you and follow your mother?" His scowl deepens.

I gasp at his words. "I-I wasn't paying attention to him! And I—"

"What happened if I didn't come here in time? They tried to kill you, Sarada!" He's screaming but his voice is shaking.

"Yes, I know! That's why I—"

"I almost lost you! And only God knows what will happen if all of my _precious_ person is taken away from me!" Dad shouts furiously in ragged breath, his voice raises in every words he said.

Immediately, the entire world frozen.

I gape stupidly at him. My mind goes entirely blank. All the words at the back of my head to make an argument are gone. And all the pride from the temporal victory I made earlier is replaced by _guilt._ Entirely.

The silence fills thickly to the air. So thick, that I have to hold my breath. Ashamed, I turn down my head from him, unable to speak a word after he said all of that.

I risk myself to apologize, just to make him feel a little bit better. "I... I'm sorry."

I hear him exhales heavily to calm down his breath and temper. "Let's go home."

And with that, I know that I finally make Dad disappointed at me. Just when I feel that Dad would be proud of me and all of it goes to waste. _Great._

* * *

 _ **A/N** : Hiiiiiii. Sorry I didn't update last week. New Year holidays. (Happy New Year!) So here's chapter 6. And to remind you again I've been busy writing a report for my college assignment; I might've not update for several weeks. But I'll try my best to spend my available time to continue this. Thanks for reading!_


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